Despite the persistent presence of potentially harmful fungi and bacteria, America’s native prairies are healthy, thriving communities of perennial herbaceous plants. How do these communities maintain a balance with these microbes? Bacteria and fungi found in native prairie soil, are mutually antagonist and thus may keep each other in check. Each produces antibiotic compounds when competing for food in the soil. By studying these interactions, researchers may discover novel antibiotics or other compounds that may be suitable as pharmaceuticals or other industrially useful compounds.
Proposer: Harold Kistler, USDA ARS Cereal Disease Lab, University of Minnesota
Proposal: Mechanisms of co-evolutionary adaptation of soil microbes